wow – saw a guy riding a bike yesterday with his forks on back to front

Hmmm fair enough then, but they were still on back to front to begin with.

I felt like telling him so many times but resisted because nobody likes a smart arse.

… and you’ve avoided that 😆
Hargroves Cycles guy, we salute you.

There was a photo on here some time back of someone who fitted their forks upside down. I think they realised before riding though.

That would be northwind…

normally see 2 or so bike a year when doing bikeability, normally supermarket BSO.

Best one I had in the workshop, guy brought a bike in as his brakes not working very well and wanted them fixed as he was of to bike park Wales.

Anyway bike comes in, first thing I notice the grips, ones with wide parts to support the palm better, the palm bit pointing straight up!
then I pull the right brake to test the front brake, not much happen at the front, but the back brake is sort of working, no biggie I thought, he have them set up euro style, but something not right, just looks odd, notice the shifters not seating right then it dawns on me…….

Someone fitted the bars upside down making all the levers/brakes (cables a mess) the wrong way round and upside down, (why the brakes did not work fluid not covering the ports in the master cylinder)

SO chatting to him asking where he got the bike, would of put money on him say he got it mail order, but no he got it from a bike shop and that how it came!!

I went for a ride with a colleague, met up on a canal towpath before work. Eventually the path widens so I can look at his bike. Those forks look very steep I thought. Oh, and the brake is on the wrong side, and mudguard eyelets are in front not behind the legs.

Had to tell him but I think he’s too frightened to take allen keys to his bike (it was mail order as he spent his wedding money at John Lewis’s on it – he reckons he might have accidentally done it putting the bike in the back of the car with the stem loosened though!)

No. Biscuit powered is not getting away that easily. I’ll re quote it on the next page too.

😆

Ah but for extra marks, why are the brakes on the “wrong” side on biscuit powered’s pictures?

Might have to try my full face on backwards in case I prefer it

6079smithw – Member

Might have to try my full face on backwards in case I prefer it

Saddle, FTW! 😉

Pace always put rim brakes on the reverse on the principle that the wheel rotation would help counteract the forces trying to bow the stanchions outwards, giving better breaking power.

Years ago, there was a large group of us building our bikes in the courtyard of a Moroccan hotel before we started out on the first day of our holiday. Everyone stopped and howled with laughter at one of the guys who had put his bike together with the fork on backwards. Everyone that is, except me as I quietly stood at the back of the group loosening off my stem bolts….. 😳

TBH I feel sorry for folk who do things like that out of ignorance; they genuinely don’t know and they need someone to show them the way. My feelings of sympathy stem from when I was about 18 and my younger brother, then aged 11, wanted to help me wire an electric plug. He swore he knew how to do it and he SO much wanted to impress his big brother so I let him go ahead. Ten minutes later he proudly presented me with his work – the cable insulation stripped right back to the clamp and three naked wires heading out to their respective posts! I told him he’d done a pretty good job but explained the need for full insulation and quietly re-wired it – no way was I going to deride him or insult his effort.

My 15 year-old son has exactly the same need to please his Dad and sometimes does bike things wrong. Again, I just quietly explain why it’s wrong and show him how to put it right, his eagerness to impress makes my eyes well up!

But for a bike shop to make that kind of mistake is inexcusable and they should be publicly flogged.

giving better breaking power

Just what you want on your forks 😉

I have called riders over and swapped them round. It’s a two minute job with a multitool, even on BSOs. Most people aren’t clueless, they just aren’t on here posting about their bicycle fixation 😉

Ah but for extra marks, why are the brakes on the “wrong” side on biscuit powered’s pictures?

They made them like that because the forward motion of the wheel helps “jam” the pads into the fork more and gains a bit more power – in theory.